


Whims of the Sea

by orochiis



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27407911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orochiis/pseuds/orochiis
Summary: Zeke abandons his names of Camus and Sirius on the shores of Archanea, for there is no sweeter sound in the world than his name falling from Tatiana’s lips.
Relationships: Teeta | Tatiana/Zeke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23
Collections: Fire Emblem Writer's Zine





	Whims of the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the Fire Emblem Writer's Zine! This was the first zine I modded and it was very fun to write this piece for my fave FE game :)

Tatiana is a pious woman. Tatiana is a woman who cares dearly for her village, and her church, and the people that are under her care. Sometimes, Tatiana is a woman who wonders if her allegiances lie closer to the people she serves than the church itself, but this is a thought that she keeps to herself, lest the people at the priory find out and oust her for blaspheming or something of the sort. She has very little money as it is, and to lose her job as a cleric would likely be the death of her- literally, she thinks with a grimace, remembering the harsh Rigelian winters.

But Tatiana is a caring woman, and that matters more than anything else. It doesn’t matter if maybe she does care for her town more than Lord Duma himself- she’s never received any revelations from him anyway. Her town is important to her, nestled in the mountains in Western Rigel. It’s a small village, really, and all the residents know each other and get along well, all under the watchful care of the church.

Despite the town being relatively safe, everyone knows to keep an eye on any girl under thirty- lest Nuibaba sneak off her mountain and snatch someone to sacrifice for one of her schemes. No one talks about Nuibaba if they can at all help it- her name is only ever heard in whispers when someone does go missing, snatched from their bed at night and never heard from again. Tatiana likes to pretend that Nuibaba isn’t real, that she’s just a myth to keep young girls inside at night, but then she has to comfort a grieving family at the church, and she remembers that the horrors she lives through are very much real.

Despite the looming threat of a possibly cannibalistic witch, Tatiana does her best to keep her life as normal as possible. She leaves the priory early in the morning, greeting her fellow members of the Duma Faithful as she leaves. The walk is always pleasant, the hint of summer fresh in the breeze. The marketplace is as busy as ever, with travellers from nearby towns trying to sell their homemade goods. The port is empty apart from one boat today, belonging to a man Tatiana knows to have a woman in every port in Western Rigel.

Nothing unusual today, she thinks with a smile to herself, hiking up her skirts so they don’t get sandy as she walks along the beach. It may be her favourite spot in town- being able to see the fishermen as they head out in the morning is always so interesting to her. It’s not until she’s a little further along the beach, beyond a curve from which the village disappears from sight, that she thinks that something unusual  _ has _ happened today.

In the distance, Tatiana spots someone lying on the beach, spreadeagled over the sand. She doesn’t immediately recognise the person, and her feet pick up the pace towards them before she can think to do otherwise. As she approaches, she can see that the person is in fact a man, dressed in a military uniform that definitely does not belong to the Rigelian Army- nor the Zofian Army, for that matter. Most importantly, the man is not moving at all.

Realising this, Tatiana rushes to his side, falling to her knees, no longer caring if she gets sand on her dress. She isn’t very strong, but she manages to roll the man over, her fingers finding the pulse point on his throat. It’s there, but it’s faint, and Tatiana relaxes a little- this isn’t a dead body she’s dealing with, at the very least. But she has no staff with her here, and can’t fathom lifting him- he looks as if he’s at least a foot taller than her.

She whispers a prayer for the unconscious man under her breath, then lifts her skirts and runs, all the way back to the priory. She’s no athlete, and is completely out of breath when she returns. The nuns give her a strange look, but wait patiently as she explains the situation. The panic in Tatiana’s eyes must be clear, as the nuns are quick to spring into action, telling the Father, and the other clerics, and eventually a team forms around Tatiana of men who are strong enough to carry this mysterious soldier back to the priory. They’re sent on their way quickly, with a staff shoved into Tatiana’s hands.

She shows them the way—through the marketplace, by the port, along the beach past the curve in the land until she sees him again, lying still in the spot that she left him. Light emanates from her staff as she falls to her knees beside him once again, praying to Duma that this man will not succumb to the whims of the sea.

* * *

It is several days before the man awakes. He has been washed by the monks, and lies still in his bed in the priory’s infirmary. Tatiana does not leave his side, not even to sleep, intrigued by this stranger and his sudden appearance on their beach. He’s quite handsome, Tatiana decides, but it’s more important that he’s healthy and alive.

The stranger’s eyelids flutter open, and Tatiana gasps. He winces a little in the bright sunlight, but eventually his eyes adjust to the light, and he looks over at Tatiana, mumbling something unintelligible.

“You were hurt,” she explains quietly. “You’re safe here.” It seems to take him a moment to process what she’s saying, but realisation crosses his face as he looks up at her.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the priory. We’re looking after you here.”

“No… I’m not…  _ where _ am I?”

“Western Rigel,” Tatiana tells him, and when he looks confused, she continues, “in Valentia.”

“Ah. And how did I get here?”

“I found you washed up on the beach. You were carried to the priory. Not by me, of course,” she says, taking her seat by the stranger once more.

“What can I call you?”

“My name is Tatiana, sir. What is your name?”

He pauses for a moment, staring into her eyes with such concentration that Tatiana feels compelled to look away from him for the first time since she set her eyes upon him.

“I don’t remember.”

* * *

The man comes and goes once he’s healthy, and when the Empire gets word of a mysterious soldier washed up on the beaches of an otherwise nondescript town, he is shipped off to the capital. Tatiana’s stranger comes back a new man, dressed in a General’s uniform, with the town he first arrived in as his assignment while he finishes recovering. He’s given a small cottage on the outskirts of town, and every day, he drops by the priory for his lunch.

This is a thinly veiled excuse to spend time with Tatiana, and everyone aside from the woman herself seems to be aware of this fact. The two eat lunch outside in the garden, and the stranger ignores the giggling of the novice nuns, who may be giving their lives up to the church, but still clearly love to indulge in gossip.

“Emperor Rudolf gave me a name,” the stranger tells Tatiana over stew the day he returns from the capital.

“Ah? You still haven’t remembered your own, then?”

“Unfortunately, my past remains a mystery to me. However, for now, I am to be called Zeke.”

“Short for Ezekiel,” Tatiana muses. “From the scripture of Lord Duma. It suits you. Nice to meet you, Zeke.”

The summer passes like this- in the morning, Zeke patrols the village, making himself familiar with the people of the village and how they live. He eats lunch with Tatiana at the priory, and stands guard at the village’s gate in the afternoon. He eats alone in his cottage in the evening- which quickly becomes a lonely experience. Sometimes, he’ll go for a walk along the beach after completing chores, and wonder how on earth he ended up in this village.

But it’s a blessing in disguise, he realises. He may have been torn away from whatever life he had before, but now there is someone in his life that brings a certain light to his life that he is not certain he had before. Against his better judgement, he leaves a note with one of the nuns at the monastery, inviting Tatiana to his cottage to share dinner with him. It’s a silly idea that she might be interested in him too, but he enjoys her company regardless of the type of relationship they share.

But Tatiana turns up on his doorstep that evening, not in the usual outfit she wears when he visits her at the priory. Her dress is sweet, he thinks, and she holds a hat under her arm, which he offers to hang up with her shawl on the stand by the door. Zeke leads her through to the kitchen, where he has two plates set up for them. He’s not the most accomplished cook, but she doesn’t seem deterred.

“This is a lot nicer than the food we get in the priory,” she comments, smiling across the table at him. “You must be on a good salary to be able to afford these ingredients!”

“Ah, I suppose. I was not aware that these are difficult to come by.”

“People around here are people of the land. Farmers and the like. They trade, but there’s not a lot of money left over for some of the nicer things in this dish, like trading vegetables for bread, or milk for eggs. Not a lot of meat for most people, apart from special occasions.”

“Well, I suppose this is a special occasion. This is the first time we’ve had dinner together.”

“It’s not that special,” Tatiana mumbles.

“It is to me. You are special to me.”

“E-Ezekiel!”

“Pray tell, you are no sister, correct?”

“No. I am just a cleric. While I am devoted to Lord Duma, I am not… wholly devoted.”

“Then I was wondering if you would consider staying by my side… as…”

“A lover?” Tatiana squeaks, and Zeke finds himself flushed at the prospect.

“Yes, I suppose. I have developed quite strong feelings for you, Tatiana.”

“And I you, Zeke. I would be honoured.”

* * *

They lead a simple life, with very little change from before. They eat lunch together, and Zeke manages to sneak a kiss from Tatiana before he goes back to his duties. He is wholly proficient now at ignoring the giggles from the other clergy, but the knowledge that it happens still annoys him, so he petitions the father to allow Tatiana to move in with him. He still requires healing for his injuries upon arriving in Valentia, he argues, but it takes no convincing for the father to realise that this man makes Tatiana happy.

Their life is blissful for months, as winter rolls in and passes through. Zeke recovers from his injuries, and Tatiana continues to check up on him, as well as all her other patients at the priory. She tries not to worry about the sudden lack of raids on the village, the fact that no one has been snatched by Nuibaba, and prays to Duma that this is how life will be from now on- this is not the calm before the storm.

But in even thinking that, Tatiana understands that she’s likely cursed the whole village.

It is not the village she has cursed, but herself. Jerome comes with his men, and they take what they want from the marketplace with no regard to the stallholder’s livelihoods. Zeke can do little to stop them, only one man against a whole battalion, and not stupid enough to start an unnecessary fight against those he is supposedly allied with.

When they’re gone, back to their barracks, Zeke returns home, tired, and longing to hold Tatiana in his arms until they drift off to sleep. But it isn’t his lover that he finds in his home, but Jerome, twirling his moustache at the kitchen table like it is his house. With a grin that comes from joy at Zeke’s pain, he relishes in explaining that Tatiana has been taken by Nuibaba, and if he wants her back, he’ll maybe do what he’s told, and comply quietly and without a fuss.

* * *

When Zeke drives his lance through Jerome’s throat all those months later, Tatiana by his side, it makes his revenge even sweeter.

* * *

When things go back to normal- well, sort of at least- Zeke begins to feel uneasy. This shouldn’t be happening. The end of a war in which he changed sides for the better should bring about peace, both in the country and within himself. But when he lies awake at night, Tatiana tucked under his arm, he begins to think. He begins to remember.

He remembers Archanea. He remembers the Sable Knights, and the things he did for Grust. Worst of all, he remembers Nyna.

Sweet Nyna, who he once loved like he now loves Tatiana. He’s still not sure how long it has been since he arrived on the shores of Valentia, but supposes it can’t have been longer than a few days since leaving Archanea and winding up on the village’s beach. It’s been almost two years since then, so… who knows what’s happened in Archanea since then.

Tatiana shuffles around the bed a little, prising herself out of his arms to roll over. He follows her swiftly, unable to even entertain the thought of sleep without her by his side. Burying his face in her hair and breathing in the smell of the sea, Zeke wonders to himself if he loves Tatiana enough to stay here.

His memories of Nyna are dim, left behind in Archanea with the rest of his past. But Tatiana is here, ever present in his life, the one thing he knows to be steady and stable. And he does love her, ever so much.

He decides not to tell her.

But there is no doubt in his mind that he must return to Archanea, at least for a little while, to put his worries at ease. To finish what he started all those years ago, to quell the demons that plague his mind every night and stop sleep from claiming him.

“My love, I have to tell you something,” he begins while he serves breakfast in the morning, having only snatched mere minutes of sleep.

“What is it?”

“I have to go away for a while. It is a business trip, from Alm. I am to visit the neighbouring Archanea.”

“Oh, I am glad you have work! How long will it be?”

“Possibly a year, possibly more. But I swear to you, Tatiana, light of my life, that I will return to your side as soon as I am able.”

“Ah. Alright. I will miss you so, Ezekiel.”

She moves from her side of the dining table to his, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. He is familiar with the gentle movements of her body when she cries, so he pulls her into his lap and lets her sob as long as she needs. A few tears fall from his own eyes- he will miss her dreadfully when he is away. But with someone like her to come back to, he is certain that his mission will go quickly.

Tatiana sees him off at the port, wrapped in a pale gold shawl that he brought back from his last visit to the capital for her. She waves goodbye, continues to wave even when she becomes but a speck on the horizon. It has only been minutes of separation, but Zeke already longs for the day that he will return to this town and see Tatiana waving once more.

* * *

Archanea feels dark and cold, even in its warmest summer months. Oppressive, like the country itself is fighting back against his return. He is busy from the second he steps off the boat, fending off soldiers that don’t want outsiders on their soil. As he makes his way around the country, making peace with himself while trying to help the people that he once knew, once thought of as friends, he finds himself longing for that tiny cottage on the outskirts of a tiny village.

Another ancient dragon was not on his planned list of activities when he returned to Archanea. He tries to avoid this conflict as much as he can- he’s had enough fighting for one lifetime, he thinks. But when Nyna gets involved, he can’t stop himself from helping her. The woman barely recognises him, but still, he manages to snap her free of the dragon’s control. It reminds her of the witches back in Rigel- the women that would give up their souls to Duma. He shudders at the thought.

When it comes time to leave, he tells no one but Nyna. She deserves to know the truth, he reasons, after all that she has been through over the years. He expects her to be sad, perhaps to shed a tear. But instead, she smiles, that graceful smile that he remembers with a pang in his heart. And she nods, and sends him on his way, back across the sea to Valentia.

He pays attention on the way back across the sea. It has been many months since he made the journey to Archanea, and he is more than ready to return to what he now considers his real home. He prays that Archanea will remain safe, free from war, though to what god he isn’t quite sure. Perhaps someone is listening, and will grant him his request. That hope is all he has left.

The seas are vast, and he helps out on the boat as much as he is able to. He makes himself useful with cleaning and fishing on the odd occasion. He cooks sometimes, but mostly he stares out at the waves and ponders what he’ll say to Tatiana when he gets back. He has an expensive piece of Altean gold in his pocket, ready to hand to her, because all these months apart have made it abundantly clear that there is nothing more he wants in life than to be with Tatiana.

Zeke abandons his names of Camus and Sirius on the shores of Archanea, for there is no sweeter sound in the world than his name falling from Tatiana’s lips.

* * *

When the boat comes to a stop, Zeke wonders for a brief moment if he even remembers how to walk on land. With a few tentative steps along the pier, it all comes back to him. Rigel smells different- fresher, somehow, despite the general lack of vegetation that is anything other than pine trees and grass. The town looks different though- brighter, greener. Is this the changes brought around by the demise of Duma? Zeke isn’t sure, but it certainly is nice to see.

He thanks the captain of the ship and makes his way into town, relishing the familiar feeling of the cobblestones under his (admittedly very worn) boots. A few people wave to him, acknowledging his presence. He stops at a market stall and passes a few coins to the owner in exchange for a large bouquet of flowers for his beloved.

Zeke isn’t sure he has ever felt so cheerful as he does when he walks up the path to their cottage, bag slung over one shoulder, flowers in his hand. He reaches into the hanging flowerpot for the spare key, and lets himself into the house. It’s silent, he realises quickly.

Tatiana is nowhere to be seen. There is no laundry hanging up outside, though the stove is still warm from this morning’s breakfast. Zeke fills Tatiana’s favourite vase with water, and arranges the flowers in them. It’s not quite what he wanted, but he knows that she’ll appreciate the surprise of seeing them at home too.

There is only one other place that Tatiana could possibly be at this time of day, and so Zeke heads back through the town to the priory. The group of nuns that once giggled over his infatuation with the cleric stand outside, and he requests that they find Tatiana at once, it’s a matter of utmost importance. Two of them scamper off to find her, while the others usher him into a meeting room.

The room itself isn’t anything special, but Zeke takes a seat on one of the wooden chairs, smoothing out his coat and wiping his palms on his trousers. He’s nervous to see her- what if, after all this time, she doesn’t want to see him anymore? What if she’s taken a new lover? Tatiana is a beautiful woman, and it would not surprise him if she had many gentlemen looking to court her. The door opens, and in walks Tatiana, closing the door behind her, not paying any attention to who her guest is.

“What can I help you with?” She asks, lifting her gaze from the door to him.

Her eyes widen, her lips part, and in an instant she rushes across the room to him. He is quick enough for her, stumbling to his feet and gathering her up in his arms. She’s crying again, but this time tears of happiness, cascading down her cheeks as she grins up at him.

“Ezekiel,” Tatiana breathes, clutching onto the lapels of his coat. “Oh, what a wonderful surprise! You didn’t tell me you were returning!”

“As you say, I wanted it to be a surprise. Oh Tatiana, I have missed you so much.”

“And I you! It is wonderful to see you again.” She pulls away a little, wiping at her tear stained face.

“I do have a present for you, which I brought from Archanea. I hope you like it.”

He reaches into the inside pocket of his coat, and pulls out the velvet pouch that contains the gold ring he had purchased on his way home. The jeweller looked shocked to receive such business, but had packaged the ring up and sent him on his way with all the luck in the world. Now, Zeke lifts Tatiana’s left hand, and when she nods her consent, he slides the ring onto her finger.

“I dread to think what the nuns will say when they see you with this,” he murmurs into her hair, placing a kiss on the crown of her head.

“Think nothing of them, darling. I know, let's sneak out the back way! I’m sure you could do with a good meal and some sleep in your own bed.”

He can’t argue with that, so he lets her drag her out the backdoor of the priory, through the town, and up the hill to their cottage. As he hangs his coat by the door for the first time in almost a year, he hears her squeal of excitement upon seeing the flowers, and is more than certain that his heart made the right decision when he fell in love with Tatiana.


End file.
